Expandable intraluminal medical devices are commonly used in a variety of medical procedures. For example, expandable stents are commonly used to provide intraluminal support to a body vessel, such as a coronary artery. Minimally invasive techniques are frequently used to delivery such medical devices to a desired point of treatment and to deploy the medical device at the point of treatment. In these techniques, a delivery system is used to carry the expandable intraluminal medical device through a body vessel and to the point of treatment. Once the point of treatment is reached, the expandable intraluminal medical device is deployed from the delivery system, which is subsequently withdrawn from the point of treatment and, ultimately, the body vessel.
Some expandable intraluminal medical devices include a functional mechanism that is sensitive to orientation within a body vessel relative to the interior wall surface of the body vessel. The expandable intraluminal medical device may include a functional mechanism that may not perform as desired if the functional mechanism is disposed adjacent a wall surface of the body vessel following deployment. For example, some prosthetic venous valves include a valve orifice that may not function as desired if the valve orifice is orientated grossly toward an interior wall surface of a body vessel. The valve orifice could be tilted toward the wall, which might affect an ability of the valve to regulate fluid flow through the device. Further, the leaflet or leaflets of a prosthetic venous valve with a valve orifice oriented grossly toward a vessel wall surface may be obstructed or otherwise affected by such orientation. Also, intraluminal filters provide a functional mechanism, typically a plurality of interwoven members, for trapping objects flowing through a vessel. The performance of the filter may be affected if the interwoven members, or a portion thereof, are oriented grossly toward an interior wall surface of a body vessel.
Prior art delivery systems may not provide a desirable system for deploying such expandable intraluminal medical devices. Accordingly, there is a need for improved delivery systems and methods of delivering expandable intraluminal medical devices.